


on roots taking shape (a story from floor 6)

by everythingFangirl



Series: when I'm with you, I can only be me (stories from the victors' tower) [12]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Lunch Club, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Drabble, Fanfiction of Fanfiction, Friendship, Gen, I guess this is a
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everythingFangirl/pseuds/everythingFangirl
Summary: Once he’s built up enough goodwill with the Capitol, he orders a set of woodworking tools and small wooden blocks up to the Tower; when the birthdays start rolling in, he gets to work.(Edit 24/01/2021: Quackity has been edited in)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), vaguely threatening no-romance tag
Series: when I'm with you, I can only be me (stories from the victors' tower) [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715008
Comments: 20
Kudos: 111
Collections: victors' tower canon works





	on roots taking shape (a story from floor 6)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WreakingHavok](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WreakingHavok/gifts), [bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb/gifts).



> I'm back on my Charlie bullshit, you love to see it. Stories from floories got me thinking about District traditions...
> 
> Thank you Anon for the title!
> 
> Edit 24/01/2021: Quackity has been edited in, work is now also gifted to bee bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb for letting me steal some of their stuff for that section. Ily <#<#<#

In district 7, gifts, carvings of all shapes and types of wood, mean everything. They’re given during celebrations, for birthdays, to friends and family and anyone who’s important to you.

Somewhere around his second year at the Tower, Charlie starts feeling woefully inadequate as a friend. It’s still painful, sometimes, to think of floor six as home instead of the woods of district seven, but that ache has faded a little over time. But he still feels hasn’t given back enough. 

(Angel’s gift from his last birthday still sits on his desk. The die still hangs around his neck.)

So, once he’s built up enough goodwill with the Capitol, he orders a set of woodworking tools and small wooden blocks to his room. The tools are disappointingly dull, although he doesn’t see the purpose behind that; if he wanted to hurt someone, there are plenty of other things on the floor he could use. The wood, on the other hand, is of so much higher quality than he's used to; back home, all they got was the scraps. Despite that, despite the fact that the tools feel unfamiliar in his hands, once the birthdays start rolling around, he gets to work.

~

Noah is first. Charlie struggles for some time to find what to make for him, but then remembers watching that movie about a ship on Noah’s birthday last year, and infers from the others’ grumbling that it was a yearly occurrence. 

So, Charlie spends a few afternoons in his room, looking up stills from the film and trying to get the shape of the ship as correct as he can. The final product still looks a little more like a boat, but he knows it’s sufficient when Noah bursts into laughter when he hands it to him that morning.

It's the first time he's ever seen Noah smile that wide.

It's a start. Charlie could probably do better, but it's a start.

~

He's not sure about Alex, either. That is, until one late-night conversation in the living room.

"We used to have this pond back in district one with ducks in it, I visited it with my mom all the time. Did you know that you're not actually supposed to feed ducks bread? It's not good for them. But whenever Capitol people visited, they'd always just feed them bread and laugh. And there was nothing I could do about it."

When the Capitol looks at their golden boy, all they see is the flaming phoenix they themselves have created. Nobody cares to look beyond, anymore, to where it all originated. Nobody cares about the little boy with his ducks, only the king who never asked for his crown.

The morning Charlie hands over the wooden duck, five little ducklings trailing behind it, Alex doesn't stop smiling for hours.

(And for every following year, every new member of their little family on floor six, Charlie carves out another duckling.)

~

Ted starts a bit one day when they’re complaining about the layout of the map of Panem, and it somehow devolves into a borderline cult. It’s bizarre, it’s chaotic, and it gives Charlie a grrrr-eat idea. (He really can't help himself with that one.)

He’s never seen a lion, isn’t even sure if they exist anymore, but does his best to carve one anyway from the few pictures he can find. Getting the texture of the mane right is the hardest part. Charlie guesses Ted hasn’t seen one either, though, because he doesn’t complain when he sees the strange-looking creature, only grins and compliments him on his handiwork. It sounds… surprisingly sincere.

(Maybe it's because of the paint. Maybe it's because of the hours Charlie took to make sure the colors reflected a sunrise.)

~

Cooper’s a difficult one. He could try fish, boats, anything related to water, but he knows that Cooper tries to distance himself from his District as much as possible. Plus, anything brand-related is sure to be a sore spot. 

But then he remembers a conversation he overheard about how Cooper used to go surfing with his friends, how he can’t now because he’s so far away from the sea. He carves four small wheels, making sure they’re all the same size. “If you put these on your surfboard you won’t need the sea to go surfing.” 

Cooper scoffs a laugh, but at least he’s not angry. That’s progress.

These things take time, Charlie tells himself.

~

Travis… oh boy, Travis. It’s tough to get used to his presence, his personality, his… let’s not talk about that right now.

Charlie’s tempted to make a dog, but again, there’s the issue of branding. He certainly wouldn’t want to receive a gift that has to do with… anyway. With as little as Travis talks, it’s difficult to find something that suits him, until Cooper and Noah get into yet another petty argument about whether penguins actually exist one day.

“I’d like to be a penguin,” Travis says quietly, and the others fall silent. “Just swimming around and stuff. That would be fun.”

Later, when Charlie hands him the wooden carving, Travis clutches it like it’s the most precious thing in the world.

~

(He doesn’t know what he’s going to make for Schlatt yet, but he does have some ideas.)

~

Charlie doesn’t see Grace on her birthday, so he picks the celebration closest to it. By the time the prep team bursts into the room, he’s already awake, sitting up on his bed with the pendant clutched in his hand. It took him some time to get the flower’s intricate petals right; he spent more time on it than any other project so far. 

“It’s rosewood,” he says, and Grace chuckles.

Despite the circumstances, despite his regret, despite everything, Charlie’s still glad to have met her. All of them, really. Maybe it’s only because he’s been in such close proximity with them for so long, but he finds he’s genuinely grown fond of the others with time. Maybe they are family now, after all.

Maybe in another time, another world, he could think that without feeling a twinge of guilt.

~

The die feels heavy around his neck.

It still hurts, sometimes, to think about those he can’t give back to. Every time one of their birthdays passes, he carves a figure, something, anything, and desperately wishes that he could pass them on to those they were meant for. At first it’s just his friends, his family, but each passing year adds one more person to the list of gifts that won’t be received. 

There’s still one thing he can do, though. Inspired by Angel’s streams, he starts building, not in real life but behind a screen. His constructions may seem chaotic and bizarre to most people watching, but the people they’re really meant for will understand what they represent, what they mean to him, to them. They should understand. Charlie prays they’re still watching. 

~

They are. And they understand.

**Author's Note:**

> 24/01/2021: Aaaaaaaaaaand with that, my edit of this series is complete! Don't worry, these works are not going anywhere anytime soon, and there's still potential for some more content in the future :) Thank you for sticking around and for supporting these fics, it really does mean the world!! (Hank Havok, if you're reading this ilysm)


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